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About this blog: I was a "corporate brat" growing up and lived in different parts of the country, ending in Houston, Texas for high school. After attending college at UC Davis, and getting an MBA at Harvard, I embarked on a marketing career, mai... (More)

About this blog: I was a "corporate brat" growing up and lived in different parts of the country, ending in Houston, Texas for high school. After attending college at UC Davis, and getting an MBA at Harvard, I embarked on a marketing career, mainly in the Bay Area with different companies. My former wife went back to medical school after we had been married a few years, and we moved into married student housing at Stanford, had our two now adult children while she was a medical student, and moved into Palo Alto when she started her Residency. Been here ever since. As my kids were going through the Palo Alto schools, I was actively involved in their activities, most notably head umpire for Palo Alto Little League and 9 years as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, among other activities. My kids both are grown, my son teaches 5th grade locally, and my daughter, fluent in Mandarin, is working in China. I sold the business I owned and ran for 8 years in 2012, worked on the Obama campaign, and am consulting for non-profit organizations, which gives me a nice, flexible schedule. Lots of stamps in my passport, and for fun, I like live performances &emdash; theater and music - and of course the Giants! (Hide)

Students Abroad and Egypt

Uploaded: Jan 30, 2011

I spoke on Skype with my daughter last night. She is doing a college semester in China.

She is finding that there is not a UPS Store as she goes through her experience. Shipping stuff and traveling around the country is not like the States. I think it's great that she is learning how things work or do not work elsewhere as part of her college experience.

She is a student at Middlebury College, which has numerous foreign language programs for its students around the world, including Egypt.

The College is trying to get their students out of Egypt, and in the meantime, the students are confined to their hotel.

This real world stuff, not along the lines of this rarefied environment we have in this part of the world.

There is UPS, FedEx, Airborne Express and other carriers in China for shipping stuff. If this is her major problem while in China then she is doing okay. Perhaps if she had been educated to what happens in the real world as opposed to Palo Alto, she would not have these "problems".

I admit I made a mistake, Airborne Express does not exist anymore--they do exist as DHL and they handle only international shipping. Because I mixed up a company's name does not mean that I "demonstrate a lack of understanding of international shipping and domestic shipping in countries other than the US".
ANyway, your daughter could use them for her shipping needs.

I think the issue is that you only want certain feedback to your postings and any comments that you disagree with must be met with condemnation and insults.
I think you are too thin skinned to be writing a blog that people can respond to.

I hope that your daughter is not reading your blogs. I also hope she expects that her friends are not reading your blogs. This is the third blog you have used her trip to China as an introduction to your topic and it just may sound to her like criticism.

This could be a cause of her reluctance to get involved in what is going on in the world as she is afraid that she will be used as an example, yet again. This is probably embarrassing to her and a complete turn off from the news media.

At the moment, Egypt has not broken down into total chaos. People can still get around, although it's possible that that will change over time. The State Department is taking a more positive hand in helping Americans exit the country, than it usually does when there is an internal political meltdown of a country--

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis,
a resident of ,
on Jan 31, 2011 at 11:08 amWalter_E_Wallis is a registered user.

It is past time for Americans to re-learn that there is nothing worse than the fury and destructiveness of a mob. Especially in a foreign country, the only rule is there are no rules. Do not hang around the edge of a riot just to see what is going on. The only rule is there are no rules.

Jennie Wiseman, the mother of another Middlebury College daughter, was just on Fox News. She is pleading the case for her own trapped daughter in Egypt. Apparently, Middlebury had an insurance policty that "guaranteed" emergency plane lifts out of dangerous zones. The problem is that the plane evaporated, without ever taking off. Now, her daughter is at the mercy of the U.S. State Dept., at the Alexandria airport. Jennie is doing what any mother would do: Whine as loud as possible to get her daughter out of there.

The problem is that events are spinning out of control. Even the elite Middlebury kids are feeling the heat. It could end up that the U.S. Marines will need to come to her rescue. If so, Paul, should the Marines shoot lead bullets, if necessary, to protect these elite kids, thus killing poor Egyptians?

When American students were in a pinch in Grenada, Reagan sent in the U.S. Army Rangers. Those rescued students kissed American soil when they got home. However, many Grenadian nationals were killed, because they shot at the Rangers, or they impeded progress. Add in a number of Cubans.

Paul, once again, should elite American students be rescued, if it means the taking of many lives of the the native peoples? Assume that an American president determines that it is necessary, just so that you cannot squirm your way around actually making a real argument.

As Joe Louis said, "He can run, but he can't hide". Time to get real, again, Paul.

Maybe we should be thinking about whether or not to send the Marines in to secure the Suez Canal, should it be closed by one faction, or another, Not certain how important a few college kids are, in the grand scheme of things, but the Canal carries 8% of the worlds ocean-going cargo, according to someone quoted on one of the TV shows this morning.

I participated in a few NEOs (non-combatant evacuation operations) during my military career. I can assure you college students get no preference for who gets out. The best way to guarantee your child a seat on a plane or boat out is to make sure they have registered with their local US embassy or consulate and get put on the "warden list" for when the call goes out. That's the best way to get name recognition. When the poop hits the fan, all other assumptions are off.

My point in this blog is that the way things work elsewhere in the world can be very different than what a person experiences growing up in Palo Alto (and equivelant communities elsewhere in the country.)

I think it is a good thing for college age people to learn this lesson, although the situation in Egypt is very scary and more than anyone should bargain for.

As for my daughter in China, she encountered some challenges booking some domestic transportation and arranging to ship some belongings from Beijing to the city in western China (Kunming) where will stay for the balance of her time there. She has had plenty of experience doing such tasks in the States, and found it to be a more difficult experience in Beijing. She did figure it out, and I think it was a good learning experience for her.

Wow! Palo Altans really do think they are all that and more! I think a more relevant topic would be, what makes up Palo Altan culture to produce such self-styled elite, maybe naive, sheltered children?

Everyone who lives abroad for a period of time will find it different from home. Other countries have different ways of doing things. Some of these are better than here and some are worse. Of course anyone abroad will take a while to get used to the system and anyone with determination and common sense will work it out.

This is not a unique experience for a young person. Even someone in their middle age will find a short time abroad a learning experience in other cultures and other ways to do things. This is why travel is an education in itself.

Even between countries that share the same language, there is still a culture divide.

I'm normally in daily contact with people in China on a social basis. Normally, I would IM (Instant Message) one, or two, of them and find out how they would move their possessions from one city to another, if they were going to move. Unfortunately, everyone in China has gone to their home towns for Spring Festival (Lunar New Year), and so are not easily accessible for a quick question.

It's a little difficult to believe that a highly educated Palo Alto resident could not ask a local the same question. People move from city to city all the time in china, so there must be ways to move their belongings.

(On a personal note, one of the ladies I communicate with IM'ed me yesterday from the train that she was taking home. She did so using her new iPhone. Got to love that Silicon Valley technology. There's every reason to believe that it will change the world. For instance, a foreign exchange student could use an iPhone to "Google" [or "Baidu"] for a moving firm, or a trucking firm.)

Every year the Chinese government broadcasts something called: Spring Festival Gala. It's a 4-hour blowout that showcases as many groups that can be fit into 5-7 minute time slots. Some of the songs have English subtitles, so those who don't speak Mandarin aren't totally left out to dry.

My friends tell me that most Chinese families hunker down in front of the TV to enjoy the show, although some of the younger people are showing less enthusiasm these days than their parents.

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